Biden’s hardball diplomacy a welcome change from Trump’s appeasement of Putin

The contentious Biden-Putin summit ended inconclusively on June 16, 2021, in the tranquil 18th century villa La Grange, surrounded by rose bushes, overlooking the serene waters of Lake Geneva.

Before the meeting, the rhetoric between Biden and Putin was heated. On March 16, 2021, in an interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC, Biden said that Putin is "a killer" without a "soul," and Putin recalled his ambassador in angry response, insinuating that Biden was a hypocrite. The United States also withdrew its ambassador. Ten years before that, Vice President Biden, at the Kremlin, told the then Prime Minister Putin that he thought he had no soul.